Bremer Party Size Lasagna with Meat Sauce

Homemade lasagna is delicious. I especially like making lasagna with Aldi’s oven-ready noodles, but when I don’t have the time or energy to make lasagna myself, or when I don’t want to dirty up my kitchen, Aldi sells a good frozen lasagna that is ready to pop into the oven.

I like keeping Aldi’s Bremer Party Size Lasagna with Meat Sauce in my deep freezer for those times when I want an easy comfort food dinner at the end of a busy day. These are also good if I’m going to be away from home just before dinner time, and I can leave instructions for a family member to put it in the oven.

This lasagna seems to be a Seasonal Favorite that’s in stores for a few months but is not available year round. It often disappears from stores during the summer months, so stock up when you see it. During the summer, Aldi sells a smaller, less-meaty frozen lasagna that is not quite the same.

I had this lasagna delivered via Instacart because I wanted to see what all the excitement was about regarding home grocery delivery.

This lasagna is described on the box as “tender layers of freshly made pasta and real mozzarella cheese in a rich and hearty meat sauce.”

One box contains 5.5 pounds of lasagna and 12 servings with 12 grams of protein each. One serving also has 240 calories, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 900 mg of sodium, and 6 grams of sugars. This lasagna contains no preservatives. It does have wheat, milk, and soy.

The lasagna is cooked from frozen and can be prepared in a conventional oven or convection oven.

To bake in a conventional oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the aluminum lid from the top of the lasagna pan and bend the lid slightly in the center. Place the lid on the tray so it is elevated over the lasagna. Place the lasagna on a cooking sheet in the center of the oven. Cook from frozen between 1 hour and 20-30 minutes or until fully cooked. Internal temperature needs to reach 165 degrees. Carefully remove the cooking sheet from the oven and let stand 15 minutes.

To prepare in a convection oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Do not remove lid. Place on cooking sheet in center of oven. Cook from frozen between 1 hour and 10-20 minutes or until fully cooked. Internal temperature needs to reach 165 degrees as measured by a food thermometer in several spots. Once cooked, carefully remove lid and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Carefully remove cooking sheet from oven and let stand 15 minutes.

My family members all like Aldi’s frozen lasagna. The pasta is filling, there is plenty of flavorful sauce with a lot of small bits of meat, and there is lots of mozzarella cheese on top of it all. We often overeat when I make this, so I try not to buy it too often. Naturally, it goes well with a side salad and any of Aldi’s garlic breads (we like the cheesy Texas toast from the freezer section), and it has a lot of sauce that is tasty when it’s mopped up with a piece of bread.

I bake this lasagna in my oven, and I often find that with frozen lasagnas, regardless of the brand, I have to bake them for longer than the instructions on the box say. That is the case with this lasagna. When I made it recently, the middle was still cool to the touch and the cheese on top had not melted after 1 hour and 20 minutes of baking time. I baked it for an additional 20 minutes, bringing the total time up to 1 hour and 40 minutes, and that got it just up to temperature according to a digital instant-read thermometer. It was okay, but it might have benefited from baking for an hour and 50 minutes total to get it steaming hot. Just be sure to plan for extra baking time in order to fully heat this lasagna.

The Verdict:

Aldi’s Bremer Party Size Lasagna with Meat Sauce is great if you don’t have the energy to make lasagna from scratch. Be aware that it usually needs more time baking in the oven than what the directions on the box indicate.

4 Comments

I would remove the aluminum lid and replace with wax paper,then microwave this on defrost until the middle was cool. Then,replace the aluminum lid and finish in the conventional or convection oven with the garlic bread. I think this would cut the time to less than half,maybe less than a half hour. It would be useful for times when you don’t have an hour and a half to wait.

I put it in a toaster oven and cooked it for the allotted time, poured some low sodium sauce and Parmesan cheese over it and ate to my hearts content. It was delicious and will definitely be buying more